Ten years ago, Disney reset the rules ofStar Warscanon - and within a decade, it’s all gone terribly wrong. Most viewers think ofStar Warsas a film franchise, but it’s always been so much more. I’m one of the more unusual viewers; I watchedA New Hopeback in 1991 and picked up one of Timothy Zahn’s New York Times bestselling novels just a few days later (which did mean I was spoiled for some pretty major original trilogy plot twists). I’m as comfortable with theStar WarsExpanded Universeas I am with any of the movies.
George Lucas' return toStar Warsmeant the EU adopted a loose “tiered” approach to canon. Lucas didn’t hate the EU, buthe also didn’t see why he should be bound to it; he’d adapt some elements into his stories (such as the city-planet Coruscant), but he didn’t mind contradicting anything if it got in his way. His works became seen as “God-level,” absolute canon, with everything else subsidiary to it. Anything that contradicted Lucas' vision was either rendered non-canon, or explained away in later works. And then, in 2012,Lucas soldStar Warsto Disney. And everything changed.
Disney Needed To Start Again To Tell New Stories
It didn’t take Disney long to decide to reboot
Modern viewers are used to a constant stream ofStar Warscontent. When Disney purchased Lucasfilm back in 2012, though, the House of Mouse was buying a studio that wasn’t used to putting out constant movies and TV shows. “Lucas had many talented employees, particularly on the tech side, but no directors other than George, andno film development or production pipeline, as far as we knew,” Disney CEO Bob Iger recalled in his biographyThe Ride of a Lifetime. That naturally had to change, because Disney wanted to make a profit on their purchase.
The old Expanded Universe was far too restrictive for this. Pretty much the entire timeline had been mapped out, from the dawn of the Jedi to events a full century after the Skywalker saga (told in the incredibleStar Wars: Legacycomics). What’s more, the sheer intricacy and detail of the lore was felt to be a barrier to new viewers. It took Lucasfilm two years to decide on a reset, branding the EU “Legends” and ushering in a new era in which - they promised - everything was now equally canon.
Disney’s New Canon Needed A Focus On Quality Over Quantity
The Lucasfilm Story Group faced an impossible task
Lucasfilm knew that maintaining canon would be a challenge. To that end, the studio established the Lucasfilm Story Group - essentially the lore-keepers for the franchise. Viewers initially believed their role was to maintain continuity, to ensure everything joined up neatly, but there was just one problem; that would be an impossible task. The newStar Warscanon expanded at an unprecedented rate, even forStar Wars, as proven when you crunch the numbers. Back in April, celebrating the ten-year anniversary of the new canon, I did a count of new canon releases - and was left stunned.
Number of fiction books
359
246
Original novels
144
42
Novel adaptations
9
5
Original junior novels
125
45
Junior novel adaptations
20
35
22
0
93
Alan Dean Foster’sSplinter of the Mind’s Eyewas published back in 1978, although in truth the popularStar Warsnovel range didn’t really kick off until the 1990s. Even considering that, though, it’s staggering to realize just how quickly canon is catching up to Legends in terms of sheer size. I didn’t even look at the comics, where there are regular weekly releases. And, of course, there’s been a constant stream of movies and Disney+ TV shows under Disney.
There’s a sense in which it doesn’t matter how good the Lucasfilm Story Group is at keeping an eye on continuity.TheStar Warsgalaxy is growing too quickly, and contradictions will inevitably creep in. The task was an impossible one - and so, in recognition of this, Lucasfilm seem to have subtly changed the remit.
Lucasfilm’s Deliberate Contradictions Have Created A New Tier Of Canon
Star Wars TV has changed everything
EnterDave Filoni, George Lucas' protégé, now Lucasfilm’s Chief Creative Officer. Filoni is a skilled storyteller, but he also doesn’t care much for continuity and canon, and he doesn’t mind contradicting other mediums - a trait he picked up from Lucas himself. This means the number of contradictions are growing, especially when you compare the TV shows to comics and books. Character arcs change, origin stories are rewritten, and entire characters are erased. Chuck Wendig’sAftermathtrilogy and E.K. Johnston’sAhsokanovel have suffered in particular.
Filoni’s attitude has unwittingly created a whole new tiered approach to canon, comparable to the old EU.
Lucasfilm execs wave this away by comparingStar Warsto mythology, insisting it’s fine that there are contradictions and that you simply have to accept that everything is “from a certain point of view.” This argument is an interesting one, but it’s fundamentally flawed, becausethe on-screen medium will always feel as though it has primacy inStar Wars- just because more people are aware of it. Filoni’s attitude has unwittingly created a whole new tiered approach to canon, comparable to the old EU. The promise of equal canonicity has been broken.
Can Star Wars Canon Ever Be Consistent Again?
And does it even want to be?
At this stage, I think we simply have to accept that there are some major contradictions baked intoStar Warscanon and lore. Most of these are impossible to solve; there’s no way of simply pretending Kanan Jarrus' Order 66 story hasn’t been told twice in different mediums, with masive differences. Going forward, a reduction in output is the only way to try to prevent canon continuing to fracture. This does seem to be happening, with comic book arcs coming to an end at the same time Lucasfilm reportedly move to releasing only one TV show a year.
But do Lucasfilm even care about the canon problems? That’s the real question, and I think the answer is probably “no.” Filoni’s view seems to be ascendant, not least because of his prominence as Lucas' protégé and the way TV shows are now headed to the big screen. My strong suspicion is thatStar Warscanon is pretty much broken, and that will remain to be the case, with the same old tiered approach gradually reasserting itself - even if it isn’t explicitly acknowledged this time.
